Examination of the Liquid Volume Inside Metal Tanks Using Noncontact EMATs From Outside

This article discusses ultrasound echo examination of the liquid volume inside a metal enclosure using noncontact electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) from outside the tank. Because only longitudinal sound waves exist in liquids, a novel and powerful EMAT design (kA currents in small coils) with a specifically enhanced transduction of longitudinal ultrasound is presented. Different wall materials (aluminum, steel, and stainless steel) and working frequencies are considered. A particular challenge, in addition to the already weak EMAT signals across an air gap, is the highly reflective interface between the metal wall and liquid because the acoustic impedances of the two media differ considerably. With thicker metal walls (here, 3mm), only either low frequencies < 100 kHz or frequencies close to the corresponding thickness resonance of the wall (here, about 1 MHz) are more suitable. The higher frequencies are preferred, as they show advantages due to a directed beam profile, shorter wavelengths in the liquid, and an overall better pulse fidelity. The simultaneous operation of several and closely neighboring EMATs demonstrates the feasibility of more demanding detection tasks, ultimately leading toward a 3-D localization inside the liquid using a noncontact EMAT array with eight independent elements.